1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to kitchen and cooking devices and more particularly to a useful device for layering foods and cutting portions thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
In many entertaining settings, it is desirable to provide pre-portioned or generally smaller sized food items when serving appetizers, entrees, and/or desserts. In a typical situation, a chef would not prepare each individual item separately but rather would prepare a large portion of a given dish, such as a lasagna or cake, and then selectively slice or cut the dish into the desired portions for serving. Often times the large portion is cut or sliced within the dish that it was originally baked or cooked. The cutting or slicing operation is prone to disadvantages, however, such as unequal portion sizes and damaged or unpleasing visible edges and the loss of usable portions. Furthermore, it is often difficult to prepare large portions of layered items such as lasagnas and cakes because the overly large baking dishes and pans do not provide adequate containment. This again can lead to a visually unappealing final product, uneven application of ingredients, uneven portions, and loss of usable portions. Furthermore, when needing large quantities of food, cooking same in an oversized dish can lead to uneven cooking—portions of the food remain undercooked while other portions are overcooked. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an easy to use device for layering and apportioning food items.
It is, therefore, to the effective resolution of the aforementioned problems and shortcomings of the prior art that the present invention is directed. However, in view of the kitchen and cooking devices in existence at the time of the present invention, it was not obvious to those persons of ordinary skill in the pertinent art as to how the identified needs could be fulfilled in an advantageous manner.